EARTH DAY FESTIVAL at HAWAIIAN SANCTUARY

Story and Photos by Raydiance Joy Grace

From the inviting sign announcing the Earth Day Festival at Hawaiian Sanctuary, excitement began to build in the community about the festivities planned to celebrate our Earth! Puna is an earth-based community with many members following regenerative agriculture practices. The people I talked to were eager to honor and acknowledge the opportunity to praise and learn how we can all support the wellness of our planet. Our planet supports us daily. Without the Earth’s health continuing to grow, we wouldn’t have a place to stand. It is time for all of us to step up to the plate and apply the principles of love and compassion, including conservation of resources, to new agricultural and environmental principles that we know are sustainable and will mutually nurture people and the earth!

Earth Day in Puna: Remembering the Movement, Imagining the Future

One of the most meaningful parts of the Earth Day Festival was hearing Bruce Miller speak about the humble beginnings of Earth Day. Known as the “Grandfather of Earth Day” and an environmental activist, he co-coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970.
Bruce reminded us that Earth Day did not begin as a polished national holiday. It began as a teach-in — a way to wake people up, especially students, to the environmental dangers that were becoming impossible to ignore.

As I listened, I felt the power of that original impulse. A few concerned people saw what was happening to the land, water, air, and future generations, and they chose to act. What began with a small group of teachers and students quickly grew into a movement of millions. Bruce described how Earth Day brought together people who might not otherwise have stood in the same circle: Republicans and Democrats, young and old, religious and non-religious, progressives and conservatives. For one moment, the Earth itself became the common ground.

That history felt especially alive here in Puna. We are a community that knows the Earth is not an abstraction. We live close to the land. We grow food, tend gardens, gather in community, and feel directly how the health of the land affects the health of the people. Bruce’s story reminded me that Earth Day is not only about remembering what happened in 1970. It is about asking what kind of courage is needed now.

Bruce was the first speaker; the audience was initially small but attentive and somewhat reverent upon hearing the humble beginnings of Earth Day and how quickly it grew into a huge national success. Bruce concluded his talk by taking questions from the audience, who were stimulated by the discussion and asked for practical solutions to the environmental concerns raised. Overall, it was an interactive talk that gave the audience impetus to solve problems.

The question raised by Bruce Miller’s talk, ”What kind of courage is needed now?” carried beautifully into David Sands’ presentation on bamboo, carbon removal, and regenerative building materials. David Sands is a co-founder and chief licensed architect of Bamboo Living in Maui and director of Rizome, a climate solution company pioneering bamboo as a global building material. 
 David spoke about bamboo not simply as a plant, but as a possible bridge between climate healing and local economic opportunity. He described the difference between invasive running bamboo and the large tropical clumping bamboos that can stay in place, grow rapidly, and become part of diverse ecosystems.

What struck me most was the possibility that damaged or underused agricultural lands in Hawaiʻi could become part of a new regenerative future. David spoke of bamboo as a fast-growing alternative timber that can store carbon, reduce pressure on forests, and perhaps even create a new kind of local industry. In his vision, Earth care is not separate from community care. Reforestation, housing, carbon storage, and economic resilience can become part of the same living system.

Together, Bruce and David offered two sides of Earth Day. Bruce reminded us where the movement came from: people waking up together and saying, “We have to do something.” David pointed toward what “doing something” might look like now: practical, regenerative solutions rooted in land, materials, economy, and long-term stewardship. His career spans over 50 years of dedicated work in sustainable architecture, bamboo construction, and environmental restoration. 

For me, this was the heart of the festival. Earth Day is not just a day to celebrate the planet. It is a day to remember that the Earth is always teaching us how to live in relationship. The question is whether we are willing to listen and then act!

Bruce Horowitz is the co-designer of Hawaiian Sanctuary Eco-Resort, a management consultant, and ran the Permaculture Internship. Bruce, aligned with Bruce Miller and David Sands in his inspiration about new possibilities for stewardship of the sacred ‘aina here in Hawaii. Talks and craft demos, like the weaving of the coconut crown he wore during his talk about finding your ecological niche in the regenerative revolution, created a can-do vibe of grassroots action. The conversation felt positive. Bruce elaborated, “Everybody has a part to play in a just transition to a more equitable, beautiful, regenerative future. That can be expressed as planting fruit forests, growing organic produce, installing graywater systems and solar panels, and building with natural materials like bamboo and coconut fronds. It also requires learning to work together and re-weave the fabric of community. Whenever we come together at gatherings like this, cross-pollination is always fruitful; keys come together more! Hawaiian Sanctuary, a site that I’ve been honored to play a big part in designing and developing over the last 20 years, is an ideal, centrally located venue with capacity for this to happen.”

Bruce has led and served as a guest teacher in countless permaculture courses around the globe, including at Western Washington University, Evergreen State College, and New College of California. He has just begun teaching with Gaia Education at Ecovillage Design Education Courses. He has a Master’s Degree from New College of California in the Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community Program. Find him at earthcraftsolutions.org

The highlight of the day for me was Jordan’s “Coconut Immersion Workshop,” a hands-on, educational, interactive workshop that let participants experience every aspect of living with coconuts, creating a can-do vibe of grassroots action. This workshop is what Puna has to offer to the world, using the most abundant tree growing here and transforming the multitude of ways we can practically use it in our daily lives, for drinking and eating while maintaining a healthier lifestyle, in our clothing, and learning regenerative fertilization. An experiential demonstration of what all the Earth Day speakers discussed throughout the day.

Robert Bogle teaches and practices regenerative agriculture through public plant aloha classes, internships, and hands-on clinics at Hawaiian Sanctuary Eco-Retreat Center at mile marker 12 farm in Pahoa. He also leads bamboo construction workshops, teaching bushcraft rooted in sustainable, local materials. 

CONTACT BOB AT 808 333-7556 AND [email protected] FOR MORE INFORMATION

Mahalo, Hawaiian Sanctuary, for presenting this meaningful day to make us more aware of how we can support our Earth Mother, this beautiful planet we live on.

May we protect our Earth, as we do, we also protect ourselves and our children’s future!